Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image output system including an image output apparatus that generates and prints a page image corresponding to a print job input from an external apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an image output system in which: the processing target is a page description language (hereinafter, referred to as “PDL”) as a print job; and a user selects an arbitrary image output apparatus and performs printing in a network environment in which a plurality of image output apparatuses is connected.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, authentication printing has become popular in printing using an image output apparatus such as a printer and a multifunction peripheral (hereinafter, referred to as “MFP”). In the authentication printing, for the purpose of preventing forgetting to collect printed materials and preventing leakage of classified documents, images are output after user authentication is performed using an IC card in the image output apparatus. Specifically, in the authentication printing, first, a print job to which user information for identifying a user is added is stored (submitted) to an authentication printing server. Subsequently, user information included in the non-contact IC card is read by a card reader connected to the image output apparatus, a list of print jobs that match the user information is acquired from the authentication printing server, and the list is displayed on a display unit on an operation panel. Then, a desired print job is selected from the displayed list, and an output instruction is given. In response, the image output apparatus receives the selected print job from the authentication printing server, analyzes the print job, and outputs a page image onto recording paper. Here, examples of the user information included in the print job include a user's login ID to a host PC (hereinafter, referred to as “PC”) that has generated the print job. In this way, in the authentication printing, the user is present at the scene of print-out processing, and hence forgetting to collect printed materials and leakage of classified documents can be prevented.
However, an image output apparatus to be selected cannot be identified at the time at which a print job is generated by a printer driver running on a PC, and hence it is necessary to unify a plurality of image output apparatuses into an apparatus type with the same apparatus settings, in order to enable printing whichever of the image output apparatuses is selected. To deal with this, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-181948 proposes “location-free printing”, that is, authentication printing having a configuration in which a print server performs conversion into print data printable by an image formation apparatus based on apparatus information received from the image formation apparatus.
Moreover, the following use example is conceivable as a configuration example of image output apparatuses having different apparatus settings. That is, in the case of establishing an authentication printing environment mixedly including a color machine and a black and white machine, a print job is once submitted with black and white output being set, and the print settings are then desired to be changed to color output. In this example, the initial value of the color mode in a printer driver may be set to a value for black and white output, and a print job may be submitted with the color mode being left unchanged. Further, the color mode may not be specified at the time of submission, and the color mode may be specified by selecting an image output apparatus that performs user authentication.
In an authentication printing system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-181948, a print file is converted into print data after a print output request is received from the image formation apparatus. This conversion process takes time depending on the number of pages of the print file and the complexity of the contents thereof. Accordingly, there is a problem that the responsiveness from the issuing of a print output request by a user to the start of print output may become lower and that the comfort is impaired.
Moreover, the print server performs processes as a bibliographic server, such as a process of receiving a print file transmitted from a PC and a process of listing target print files in response to a print output request including user information from a MFP, in addition to the process of generating the print data. Hence, in a network environment in which a large number of PCs, printers and MFPs are connected, processing load concentration occurs, so that the responsiveness may become further lower. Note that Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-181948 does not describe a method of specifying various print settings (an output paper size, a paper feed tray and layout settings for N-up printing) made on UI screens of a printer driver and application software.
Meanwhile, in the case where the color mode at the time of submission is set to black and white output, a printer driver generates PDL data by converting chromatic colors into grayscale, and hence the print settings cannot be changed to color output at the time of printing. To deal with this, it is conceivable to generate print data including contents of chromatic colors regardless of the color mode set at the time of submission and perform color conversion by an image output apparatus. In this case, however, the size of PDL data increases particularly in the case of a print job including a large amount of image data. Moreover, for example, a compression format suitable for color output, such as JPEG, may be applied to a photographic image, and this compression format may be a data format redundant for a black and white machine. Hence, there is a problem that, depending on the contents of print data, the processing load increases in printing using a black and white machine and that the print speed decreases.